Friday, June 12, 2009

Hanging at Hawksbill Cay

We've just gotten in to Highborne marina after a fantastic 4 nights anchored at Hawksbill Cay with Pazzia. We arrived at Hawksbill on Monday and found CJ & Margie anchored there. The anchorage is beautiful and we were able to get close up to the beach. It's a rolly anchorage but the weather turned once again and we had almost no wind for 4 days. We had hard, hard rains at least once a day but once they'd passed it was back to calm water. We did a lot of snorkeling and on Wednesday we circled the whole cay. The north end is a huge shallow sand bar, so light in color that it almost looked like a dessert or sand dune. We weren't sure that we could cut through to the ocean but with the jet ski scouting ahead we were able to in the dinghy as well. The ocean was so calm! We saw several barracuda in the water on the ocean side. We also found a gorgeous area to snorkel. One day Martin and I also went on shore and hiked the two trails there. We got to walk on the beaches we'd seen from water the day before. Once again we had a fantastic time with CJ, Margie and the pups. We had dinners and happy hour and a great time exploring around the cay together...

We both headed to Highborne Marina today. We had another rain storm in the morning and then headed out. The marina is packed with people and we're way out on the end so we have to pass everyone when we go to see Pazzia or to the office/store...so we've already met a ton of people :) And...there's a 50 foot Nordhavn here that CJ scoped for us - it's for sale! We're hoping to meet the people on the boat and get a tour!

Oh! And I have another shark story - second hand. It seems that sharks don't *always* take off in fear or indifference from people... CJ & Margie were snorkeling off the jet ski when a 4-5 food black tip came by - right up to the back of the ski. It just so happens that you can only get back onto to the ski from the back so Margie panicked and tried the side but couldn't do it...She finally frantically scrambled up by the back. CJ followed and then put his camera in the water and snapped a few pictures. The shark was right there, very curious about the ruckus no doubt and hanging out. (A curious adolescent?) Margie, after my own heart, went back to the boat and had a stiff drink!

I want to also explain that I have a great respect for sharks. I don't believe in killing them, fishing them or fining them. They're just doing their thing...I simply recognize that I need to do my thing as distant from their thing as I can :)